Motion picture camera supply reel spindle



Dec. 13, 1938. R. w. WENGEL 7 2,139,784

MOTION PICTURE CAMERA SUPPLY REEL SPINDLE Filed Aug. 11, 1936 Patented Dec. 13, 1938 V I 2,139,784 g g MOTION PICTURE C'All/IERA SUPPLY REEL SPINDLE Raymond W. Wengel, Rochester. assign or by mesne assignments, to EastmanKodak Company, Jersey City, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey H I Application August 11, 1936, Serial swam 3 Claims. (Cl. 24255) I invention relates to motion picture camthus enables the spring to be released and to reeras and more particularly to the supply reel verse ,the direction of rotation'of the spindle to spindle of such cameras. rewind the overrun film back onto the supply One object of the invention is to provide a reel.

5 spindleof this class which automatically rewinds Referring now to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a "B the overrun film. Another object is to provide film magazine ll of a motionpicture camera, a spindle of the class described which maintains on the front of whichis mounted the usual ob.- an even tension on the roll of film on the supply jective l 2;. The forwardiportionof the magazine a reel. A further object is to provide such a spinis provided with a pull-down claw l3, of any dedle which is simple in construction, inexpensive sired type, eccentrically mounted for rotation on It) to manufacture, and highly effective in use. an extension M of a motor shaft, and arranged To these and other ends, the invention resides to pull a strip of film l5 through a film gate IS. in certain improvements and combinations of The film I5 is fed or pulled from a supply reel 1 parts all as will be hereinaftermore fully de- I! mounted on a supply spindle generally indiscribed, the novel features being pointed out cated by the numeral l8, and hereafter more 15- in the claimsat the end of the specification. fully described.

In the drawing: From the supply reel H, the film I5 is pulled Fig. 1 isa diagrammatic side elevation View over the upper side of a suitable sprocket 20,

, of the magazine of a motion picture camera, t u e film g e and then b c to e with the side cover. removed, showing a supply under side of the sprocket 20, from whence it is 20 spindle constructed in accordance with the predirected to a suitable take-up reel 2! mounted ferred embodiment of theinvention. for rotation on the take-up spindle 22, all of Fig. 2 isa perspective view,,partly in section, which is clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. The film E5 of the preferred form of supply reel spindle con,- is held in engagement with the sprocket 20 by struction, showing the arrangement of the varisuitable sprocket gates 23 and 24 which engage 2'5 ous parts the film and maintain it in engagement with Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken sub-- the sprocket 20. These sprocket gates 23 and 24 stantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. are pivoted at 25 and 26 respectively, so that they Similar reference numerals throughout the may be swung out of engagement with the several views indicate the, same parts. sprocket 20 to enable the film l5 to be threaded 3b The present inventon is embodied in the 'presover the sprocket 20, as is well known to those ent instance, by way. of illustration, in a supply in the art. reel spindle for motion picture, cameras. The The take-up spindle 22, with its reel 2|, is preferred form of supplyspindle comprises, in preferably rotated by means of a suitable spring general,ahol1ow spindle member suitably mountbelt 30 which is operatively connected -to an ed .on the sidewall of thecamera magazine, and electric motor (not shown) and runs over a ,a hollow drumlikeflrnember vrotatably mounted grooved idler wheel 3| and then after crossing on the hollow spindle adjacent one end thereof. over at 32 engages a grooved wheel or disk 33 A flat coiled spring. is positioned within the 1101- secured to and rotatable with the take-up spin- 40 low drum and has the inner end connected theredle 22. 0 to. The outer end of the springis fastened to a The strip of film I5 is thus pulled or drawn pin formed on acircular disk secured to and rothrough the entire mechanism by the rotation tatable as a unit with thehollow spindle member. of the take-up spindle 22 and the pull-down claw This spring thus resiliently connects the drum l3. As the film is thus pulled, the supply reel [1 with the spindle member. A brake is associated revolves to unwind the film thereon. In normal 45 with the drum and is arranged to hold the latoperation, the film I5 is substantially taut on ter when the spindle is started so as to initially the supply reel due to the pull of the sprocket 20. wind up or tension the spring. After sufiicient If, however, the mechanism is suddenly stopped,

torque has been stored up in the spring, the or the film breaks, the supply reel I1 and its '50 brake slips on the drum to permit the latterto spindle l8, due to their inertia, will continue to rotateas a unit with the hollow spindle member, revolve or overrun, thus unwinding an excessive thespring providing a .resilient connection beamount of film from the supply reel.

tween the drum andthe spindle memben. When, The disadvantages of such an arrangement h owever, the spindle is stopped, the bra'ke again haslong been apparent to, those in the art; and,

grips the drum' to hold it against rotation, and in order to overcome this disadvantage," some 5 cameras of this class have been provided with brakes for slowing down and stopping the supply reel so as to reduce the amount of such overrun. It is apparent, however, that while such brakes reduce the extents of such overrun, they still permit a substantial amount of film to be unwound from the supply reel before the latter is actually stopped.

In order to overcome this highly objectionable feature, the present invention provides a new and improved supply spindle construction which permits free rotation of the spindle to unwind the film when the latter is positively pulled by the sprocket 20; but which automatically reverses the rotation of the supply spindle when the film becomes slack to rewind the film thereon. By means of this arrangement, the overrun of the film is prevented, and a constant tension is maintained on the roll of film on the supply spindle.

Fig. 2 shows a supplyreel spindle constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention. The supply spindle I8 is preferably of hollow construction and is rotatably mounted on a stud secured to the side wall of the magazine I I, in any'suitable or well known manner. The spindle is held in position on the stud by a suitable screw 4!, and is shaped at 42 and 43, in the usual manner, to receive the supply reel H.

The inner end of the spindle is formed, in the present embodiment, with a short cylindrical extension 45, to one end of which is fixed a circular disk, 46 adapted to rotate as a unit with the III spindle IS. The inner end of the portion 43 is formed with a shoulder 50 which cooperates with the disk 46 to retain a brake drum 5| in position on the extension 45, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. This drum is formed with an axially extending sleeve 55 arranged to rotate freely in the extension 45, and a radial portion 55, the outer edge of which is formed to provide a rim 5'! which projects over the peripheral edge of the disk 46. This rim 5'! is formed with a groove 58 arranged to receive a brake band which will be later described.

The drum 5| is preferably resiliently connected to the spindle l8 by means'of a flexible member preferably in the form of a coil spring 60. The inner end of this spring is suitably secured at 5! to the sleeve 55, and the outer end thereof is fastened to a pin '62 on the disk 46. It is apparent, therefore, that, if the drum 5| is held stationary and the spindle l8 and the disk 46 are rotated in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, the pin 62 will carry the outer end of the spring 66 around with the disk 46 and will thus wind up or tension the spring 69. It is also apparent that, after the spring has been thus tensioned and with the drum 5| still held stationary, if the pull of the sprocket 2 is diminished so asto reduce the tension on the film 15, the tension or. torque stored up in the spring 60 will cause the spring to unwind or release. This unwinding of the spring will reverse the rotation of the disk 46 and the spindle 18 to rewind any overrun film back onto the supply reel ii. In addition to rewinding the film, the spring '69 also provides a steady reverse pull on the spindle l8 and thus assures proper tension of the film on the supply reel.

In order tohold the drum 5 I ,as above described the present invention provides a novel brake band arranged to engage the bottom of the groove 58 of therdrum. This brake band is preferably in 'the form of. a flexible cable l I, one end of which is fastened to a post 12 secured to the side wall of the magazine II. This cable is then wrapped around the drum 5| one or more times and the free end is then secured to a hook portion 15 on the lower end of a leaf spring 16. This leaf spring is preferably in the form of a flexible wire which extends up through a hole in the post 12 and has the upper end thereof secured to the side wall of the magazine II by means of a screw ll. The spring 16 provides the necessary tension for the band or cable H and also provides a take-up for any stretch in the cable.

The device operates as follows:

The film is threaded through the machine in V the usual manner, and the free end is secured to the take-up reel 2|. When the motor is started, the operation of the pull-down claw l3 and the rotation of the take-up spindle 22 pulls or draws the film through the machine and unwinds it from the supply reel. As the supply spindle l8 and the disk 46 are thus rotated by the unwinding of the film from the supply reel ll, the spring 60 is carried around by the disk 46, the drum 5! being held stationary by the friction band '!I. The continued rotation of the disk 46 winds up or tensions the spring 60 until the torquedeveloped therein is sufiicient to overcome the friction of the band ll, after which the drum it rotates as a unit with the disk 46 and thesupply.

spindle l8. If, however, the machine is suddenly stopped, or the tension of the unwinding film is decreased, the torque which is stored up in the spring 50 will automatically and instantly rotate the disk 46 and the spindle I8 in the reverse direction, the drum 5| being then held stationary by the gripping action of the band II. This reverse rotation will thus rewind any overrun film onto the supply reel. w

' It will be seen from the above description that the present invention provides a novel supply reel spindle which will not only prevent the overrunning of the film, the disadvantages of which are obvious; but alsomaintains a constant tension on the film on the supply reel so that the film will also remain tightly wound.

While the present embodiment of the invention has been shown as applied to the supply reel of a motion picture camera, this is by way of illustration only, asit is to be understood that the inventive idea maybe carried out in a number of ways. This application is not, therefore, to be limited to the precise details disclosed, but is intended to cover all variations and modifications thereof which fall within the spirit of the invention and the scope ofthe appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. In a motion picture apparatus the combination with a support, a spindle rotatably mounted on said support and having a part arranged to receive a supply film reel, a drum loosely mounted on said spindle, a resilient member connecting said spindle and said drum,'and a brake band en gaging said drum and having one end thereof operatively connected to said support, of a leaf spring secured to said support and having a free end connected to the other end ofsaid brake band to resiliently hold the same in engagement with said drum.

2. In a motion picture apparatus, the combination with a support, a spindle rotatably mounted on said support and having a part arranged to receive a supply film reel, a drum rotatably mounted on said spindle, and a spring connecting said spindle and said drum, of a cantilever spring secured to said support and having a free 16 end, and a non-metallic brake band engaging said drum and having one end connected to said support and the other end connected to the free end of said cantilever spring which is at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said brake band.

3.'In a motion picture apparatus, the combination with a support, a spindle rotatably mounted on said support and having a part arranged to receive a supply film reel, a drum rotatably 10 mounted on one end of said spindle adjacent said reel, and a spring connecting said spindle and said drum, of a leaf spring having one end thereof anchored to said support and having a free end, and a brake band in the form of a cord wound in convolutions around said drum and having one end thereof secured to said support adjacent said one end of said leaf spring and having the other end thereof fastened to the free end of said spring.

RAYMOND W. WENGEL. 

